On a pleasant evening in November in Delhi, the Sadguru Sri Thyagabrahma
Aradhana Kainkarya Trust conferred the Nataraja Samman on dancers who
have excelled in their field - Rama Vaidyanathan (Bharatanatyam), Gopika
Varma (Mohiniattam), Deepika Reddy (Kuchipudi) and Rajendra Gangani
(Kathak).

The performances for that evening were on the theme of Divya Vahana,
part of a trilogy, the first being Divya Astra. The event was
conceptualized by Usha RK and held at IHC in Delhi. A vahana means a
vehicle of the Lord. It is mostly an animal or a mythical entity; each
vahana has its attributes and a tale to relate it to the deity it is
associated with. The relationship is often reciprocal, and the vahana
represents certain qualities which complement the deity.

Garuda is the large mythical eagle and the mount of Lord Vishnu. It was
presented by Shivaranjani Harish in Bharatanatyam. She wore a golden
yellow saree for the piece, which was appropriate for garuda. She
started the presentation with a garuda kauthuvam. He is the son of
Vinathi and Kashyap and wears the snakes Adishesha, Vasuki, Gulika
as his adornments. The tale has it that Garuda flies to Indralok to get
the pot of amrita to free his mother from the slavery of his snakes.
His courage during his fight with Indra and the snakes impresses Lord
Vishnu, who then takes him as his steed. Shivaranjani’s depiction of the
rounded sharp beak and large wings with leaps and apt movements was
impressive, especially the stretched one-legged stance of the garuda in
flight. Svarnakaye (golden-bodied), shvetavarna (white-faced), pakshidhara mahamati vahana gaganeshwar (lord of the skies, the biggest bird), vishnurath (the steed of Vishnu), Adishesha as his adornment, Vasuki his yagyopaveet (sacred thread), veeraputra, anupamteja
were the attributes depicted. The imagery and abhinaya were all
skillfully rendered. The choreography was by Guru Kiran Subramaniam,
lyrics and music by D Srivatsa.

Shivaranjani Harish

Arupa
Lahiry

The dancer portraying Gaja was Arupa Lahiry, a disciple of Chitra
Visweswaran. Here, the elephant is not the steed of Goddess Gajalakshmi,
but she is seated on a lotus with elephants on all four sides pouring
water on her as an abhishekam. Mahalakshmi was incarnated out of the
churning of the ocean surrounded by her four elephants. In 5th and 6th
century murals, she is depicted as washing her hair with this water, and
the droplets fall on the swans who are pure souls. Arupa entered the
stage holding one hand like the elephant’s ear and the other raised as
the trunk. The jathis and movements were measured and flowed smoothly.
The movement for the waving of the ears was wide and jerky, to depict
their flapping. Lakshmi is worshipped as the durgativinashini, phal pradayini (removes
obstacles and gives the fruit of prayers). The Trinity (Hari, Hara,
Brahma) worship her. Arupa depicted her as emerging from the Ksheera
sagar with the four gajas pouring water on her from their trunks. As
Arupa showed the loosening of her hair and washing them in the water,
the lights were dimmed and the vision of the beautiful goddess washing
her hair had a touch of magic.

The next vahana depicted was the hamsa, the vehicle of Goddess
Saraswati. The swan symbolizes knowledge and self-realization and lives
in the Manasarovar lake near Mt Kailash. The white colour is the symbol
of excellence. T Reddi Lakshmi, a disciple of Jayarama Rao, clad in a
white sari, explored the format of pravesha daruvu. The bird is born
from the beejakshara. She is pained and looking for the purpose of her
life, and is drawn to Goddess Saraswati through the music of her veena.
The gait of the swan and the flying motion were apt. Goddess Saraswati
is described as mata gyananetra pradata – she is the one who gives the eye for knowledge. The performance ended with the chant ‘Soham.’

T Reddi Lakshmi

Reddi Lakshmi, Shivaranjani, Arupa

Nandi, the steed of Shiva, was depicted by Shivaranjani again in a red
sari. Nandi is famous for his mastery over rhythm and accompanies Shiva
on the mridangam during the celestial dance. The piece began with a
shlokam on Nandi, followed by a Nandi chol. Here, the piece finally
reaches a crescendo with the word ‘Nan-di’. Shivaranjani could capture
the gait of a bull in her dance. In a Shiva temple, Nandi sits right in
front of the Shiva lingam. A bhakta Nandanar who has come for darshan of
the lord could not see him because of Nandi sitting in front. So he
requests the bull to move a little. But Nandi does not budge, and it is
only after Shiva pleads with him that Nandi moves just a bit,
proclaiming, ‘I may have moved, but I am still his first devotee.’ The
depiction of the piece was done with flair and a touch of humor.
Shivaranjini would, each time, kneel and slump backwards to show the
stubborn Nandi. The condescending attitude of Nandi when he moves a
little to allow a view of the lord was also expressively portrayed.

The musicians for the evening were Srivatsa on vocals, Ramya Janakiraman
on nattuvangam, Saraswati Rajagopalan on veena, Sreedhar on violin and
Rajat Prasanna on flute.

Shveta Arora is a blogger based in Delhi. She writes about cultural events in the capital.